Gemmy Gypsies

Our happy little group of friends (L - R) Sonny & Monica originally from Jamaica but now live in London, Karen & Doug originally from England but now live in Perth ( Karen was born in Burma and moved to England when she was about 9 yrs), retired Colonel Myat Thin ( Leslie) and Valerie who have always lived in Burma, Connie ( Leslies' sister ) originally from Burma but now lives in Perth, Dennis originally from Burma but now also lives in Perth joined us for 4 days. Taking the photo is Lorna, Connie & Leslie's sister who has always lived in Burma. We two suspects are hiding behind Valerie & Connie. Understand all that ?

Lorna on the left and her sister Connie. Or should that be Connie on the right with her sister Lorna?

These dancers / singers were warming up the crowd in preperation of a religious parade later in the day. It was a long day.

More dancers with the band in the background.

At Pindaya cave. the legend has it that a princess was held captive by a bloody big spider but was eventually saved by a prince. Can't remember the rest of the story - sorry. Will get our people onto it.

The prince coming to the rescue.

Large Buddha statue that Alan thinks looks a bit like Tom from Mena Creek. What do you think?

Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits.

The Shwe Zigon Pagoda in Bagan. This was the proto type to the Shwe Degon in Rangoon.

The main stupa at Shwe zigon. Buddhas frontal bone and a tooth are reported to be hidden inside this.

Petrified wood which had been turned into an interesting 'water feature'. Unfortunately someone had pulled the plug and it was a tad dry.

Some floor tiles which took my fancy.

I liked the composition of this photo. This was in a building used by pilgrims to rest, eat and sleep in.

Some Buddha statues in Pindaya cave. It took us a 6 hour drive over the roughest road to get here, but it WAS worth it. It really was. Then it was a 6 hour drive home again.

This young statue in Pindaya cave was solid gold. Crikey.

During the monsoon season the river in the distance flood these plains and comes up to the creek at the bottom of the picture. When the flood waters subside, the area is immediately planted with crops in the fertile soil until the next monsoon when the cycle begins again.

A local school on Inle lake. Education is a high priority in Burma and even the current regime encourage schooling for all children.

Can I take them home ? Alan with a couple of mates.

A couple of very nice Buddha images.

A Buddha image protected by a naga in the form of a cobra. No those are not used tyres.

These are the famous leg rowing fishermen of Inle lake. They stand on the front of the boat and holding the top of the oar they use one leg to row the boat. Once a year there is a big competion where crews of up to 10 rowers compete against other villages. This was not on during our visit.

These bamboo cages are used to catch fish. The fish are caught live in a clever combination of this bamboo cage and a net inside the cage. Note the fishermans leg around the oar.

These are potatoes going to market further down the river. Behind is a storm brewing which we were caught in whilst paddling along, lucky we had a motor on the back - got bloody wet though.

Calm before the storm.

These people spend their lives living in houses on stilts over the lake and create floating gardens to grow all manner of vegetables.

Near Bagan when the river level drops during the dry season huge sand bars are exposed in the middle of the river. For approx. 4 months of the year locals plant various crops in the nutrient rich mud. Mainly quick growing herbs, a variety of sesame seeds, and a type of morning glory which is delicious.

We hired a boat to go across the river and visit an important pagoda. This shot was taken on the way home with the sun setting over the pagoda and the crew sitting on the roof of the boat. Note the vase of flowers, nearly every type of transport we came across in Burma had flowers or plant material attached somewhere.

The boat and crew before we headed off.

Cargo boats on the river, these ones were not going anywhere that day.

Burma - the markets in Nyaung Shwe in Southern Shan state.

Lady on her sewing machine and selling various orchids.

There had been quite a bit of rain recently in Nyaung Shwe and the local dam was full. The first night we were there it rained again, but not too much. The local authorities were afraid the dam might burst it's banks soooooooooo in the night they opened the flood gates to let out some water. This is the result in the morning.

And this.....................

This is the U Beins bridge at Amarapura, a 2 km long teak walking bridge that goes from the mainland to a small island community in the middle of the lake.

They have these nice row boats which you can hire along with someone to row them for you.

There are ducks everywhere along the lake.

Meanwhile back in Mandalay, this is what ALL the footpaths look like. Be careful walking the streets at night not because of any problems with the locals but with the big holes. Always take a torch or better still walk on the road.

This is what you will fall into if you are not watching where you are going. The footpaths were like this 30 years ago - nothing has changed.

The man road in Mandalay. The army was noticeably absent on this day, but they pop up all over the place in pairs carrying sub machine guns. We didn't get any nice pics of them this trip but will sneak some snaps next time.

Inside the big book pagoda. The colours are just superb. The building has an interesting mix of Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu influences due to the different religions of the builders. They all added something to make this quite unique.

And again a different view.

Cinthe guarding the entrance to Mandalay hill. These keep all bad spirits and influences out. There is another one on the other side.

Looking up to Mandalay hill from Mandalay city.

Part of the moat around the old Mandalay Palace. The army now use the Palace & grounds as their headquarters - well it's far too nice to leave empty or for tourists to visit.

A nice teak carving above a door.

When we headed bush with Alans old friend the retired Army Colonel, we came across many places that rarely see foreigners. Here a truckload of travelling musicians stopped to check us out. Everyone was very friendly and ever so curious as to why we were there.

Here we get the once over from a local fella wearing a longji, similar to a sarong but both ends of the cloth are sewn together to make a continuous garment instead of 1 long piece of material. I bought several of these for myself which were handmade and with very nice patterns.

A lot of deserted village streets but within minutes of us arriving there would be faces peering out from everywhere.

A typical village dwelling made from woven bamboo & palm fronds.

A truck stop somewhere out west.

A farmer ploughing the field the traditional way. There are Ads around trying to get farmers to borrow money so they can buy a tractor and make farming easier for themselves, but thankfully so far the farmers are resisting. These people are so poor that could never afford to run the machines or get them repaired let alone paying back a loan. They would remain in debt to these companies ( mainly Chinese ) for the rest of their life or be forced to give up their land and go and live in a slum in the city.

A local climbing the palm to collect the juice to make palm toddy.

Extracting the juice.

Cooking up the toddy. The first process is done in the morning and the resulting drink is sweet, milky and non alcoholic. After a few hours, the juice starts to ferment and tastes a little like alcoholic lemonade,( for those of you who live in W.A. it tastes like Two Dogs lemonade ) it also has quite a kick to it. The drink then gets stronger as the day gets longer. The next process is to distill the toddy, so the resulting liqueur is clear and lasts indefinately, it is also very, very tasty.

This man is chopping chaff which he will mix with crushed black sesame seeds and feed to his cattle. Looks like wacky weed to us.

Black sesame seeds after they have been crushed. This mixture makes up part of the diet for the cattle.

Crushing of the black sesame seeds.

This nifty little 4x4 Burmese made vehicle costs approx $ 13,000 AUD.

These shelters are scattered all over Burma and are spaces that pilgrims can use for shelter & cooking as they travel throughout the country. Sort of like free camping spots in Australia.

A statue of a white elephant in a wat near Bagan.

Playing with the elephant.

Bell carriers. The bells are meant to be rung, which of course we did.

Old stupa in Bagan. There are thousands of these around the countryside.

Bagan in central Burma is rather flat and usually quite dry. There had been quite a bit of rain recently so it all greened up for us.

An example of some of the stupas. Until very recently there were villages built around these stupas but the government in their wisdom have moved the people into towns.........as governments tend to do all over the world.

Around Bagan horse and cart are still used as transport whether private use or as in this case a taxi.

Locals having a chat.

Typical Burmese meal with 3 curries, usually chicken, pork & mutton plus approx 8 side dishes. This was at a restaurant.

B in deep conversation with a local that took a liking to him at the incredible Shwe Dagon Pagoda in Rangoon. He was invited to spend a week at a Buddhist retreat with the man but B had to decline as we had other plans........but maybe next time.

The BIG bell at the Shwe Dagon Pagoda. Moments earlier A had struck the bell not realising those two children were playing underneath. It all ended happily though.

One of the many statues in the Shwe Dagon Pagoda.

Just one small section of the Shwe Dagon Pagoda.

There are little shrines everywhere and no space is spared. People leave offerings and say prayers for every imaginable thing.

These Buddhas all represent a different aspect of life such as health, wealth, happiness etc and devotees drop monetary offerings into the boxes in front of the desired one.

A museum containing very old relics, photos & gold statues. No photos allowed inside, so A found out after he had snapped away and got scolded by an attendant.